Playing all these games for the first time so close to each other is a weird experience. Pikmin 1 and 2 are fun but suffer from New IP/early Gamecube game polish issues. Then Pikmin 3 comes and improves on basically everything and setlles into a gameplay loop that seems to finally fully get what it wants to be. Then Pikmin 4 takes everything Pikmin 3 did, add to it, and add so much new content it ends being longer than the first 3 games combined. This is a series that’s had only 4 main entries in 20 years, but playing them all within a month of each other really drives home how different they really are.
The beginning of this game worried me, as the constant interruptions to tutorialize were super annoying, and the new limits on how many number and kind of Pikmin you could have at a time worried me. I also deeply loved the 3x multitasking of 3, so reducing it that back to just one captain seemed like a step back. By the middle of the game though, it was clear this game knew what it was doing. The Pikmin limits force you to focus and strategize, and once you upgrade Oatchi to be a captain/Pikmin hybrid force of nature, the level design really shines. I’m a sucker for an upgrade menu.
I really did not like the caves in Pikmin 2, but luckily the ones here are 1) significantly better designed 2) way less tediously difficult 3) let you take breaks without penalizing you. All these things make the caves feel more like an extension of the main game, rather than an annoying distraction from it like it mostly did in 2.
I also really liked the weird story? Like it seems like this one takes place in the timeline where you got the bad ending of Pikmin 1, and therefore Olimar never met Louie or the Koppaites? Bizarre, but I love it.
I still think the game never reaches the immense highs of Pikmin 3’s best moments, but this one is so consistently good (past the first 2 hours or so) that it’s hard to say which I liked better.
Pikmin 4 does have several very good boys in it though so it’s not reeeeally a contest 🐶
The beginning of this game worried me, as the constant interruptions to tutorialize were super annoying, and the new limits on how many number and kind of Pikmin you could have at a time worried me. I also deeply loved the 3x multitasking of 3, so reducing it that back to just one captain seemed like a step back. By the middle of the game though, it was clear this game knew what it was doing. The Pikmin limits force you to focus and strategize, and once you upgrade Oatchi to be a captain/Pikmin hybrid force of nature, the level design really shines. I’m a sucker for an upgrade menu.
I really did not like the caves in Pikmin 2, but luckily the ones here are 1) significantly better designed 2) way less tediously difficult 3) let you take breaks without penalizing you. All these things make the caves feel more like an extension of the main game, rather than an annoying distraction from it like it mostly did in 2.
I also really liked the weird story? Like it seems like this one takes place in the timeline where you got the bad ending of Pikmin 1, and therefore Olimar never met Louie or the Koppaites? Bizarre, but I love it.
I still think the game never reaches the immense highs of Pikmin 3’s best moments, but this one is so consistently good (past the first 2 hours or so) that it’s hard to say which I liked better.
Pikmin 4 does have several very good boys in it though so it’s not reeeeally a contest 🐶